NFL Free Agency 2020: 5 Best landing spots for Shaquil Barrett

In 2019, Shaquil Barrett burst onto the NFL scene, recording 19.5 sacks. Now, the 27-year-old, potential one-hit-wonder will hit the open market.

Last season, Tampa Bay’s Shaquil Barrett led the NFL with 19.5 sacks and 37 quarterback hits. The undrafted Colorado State product more than doubled his career production in both of those categories. While teams fear Barrett may not duplicate his dominant performance in 2020, the Second Team All-Pro will still garner plenty of attention in free agency.

Barrett joins Arik Armstead, Jadeveon Clowney, Bud Dupree, Dante Fowler Jr., Matt Judon, and Yannick Ngakoue in a stacked pass rusher class. With so many premier sack artists available on the market, predicting Barrett’s top landing spots proved difficult.

Please note, while plenty of teams need pass rushers, Barrett succeeded in Tampa Bay’s 3-4 scheme. His previous team, the Denver Broncos, also employed a 3-4 defense. With that in mind, teams using Barrett’s natural formation receive an edge over other landing spots.

Cap space also factors into which teams made the cut for this article. After playing on a one-year, $4 million deal in 2019, Barrett wants to cash in on his All-Pro performance. The NFL’s highest-paid outside linebacker, Khalil Mack, makes $23.5 million annually. Barrett won’t make that much, but he could ask for around $15 million per year.

A significant number of NFL teams will only focus on re-signing their players or filling in empty spots with bargain deals this offseason. No team with under $25 million in cap space appears in this article. Going by the rule of thumb, those teams will only make one splash signing, if any. Barrett is not a priority signing for any of those teams.

While the NFL’s sack leader in 2019 may not attract attention from every team in the league, the following five teams should at least reach out about a potential signing.